Real life experiences
Sound communities
Sound Communities is a new project funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, that started in October 2018.
Building on the Music for Change programme, Sound Communities have built four communities of practice in London, Luton, Essex and East Sussex, developing understanding and practice in early childhood music and communication. Three of our practitioners have attended regularly training sessions on the sound communities’ project and we have been regularly visited by Creative Futures music practitioners. The project has shown our practitioners different ways to involve music and instruments in the children’s play and ways of focusing on what is behind a piece of music such as tempo, beat, rhythm, pitch and how music can be used in different ways.
Visiting farm
Ark farm specialise in bringing a variety of friendly farm animals into schools, nurseries, children’s centres and care homes, delivering a real hands-on educational and tactile experience for children and adults of all ages. A mobile farm experience / visit supports and enriches the four themes of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS); A Unique Child, Positive Relationships, Enabling Environments and Learning and Development. This type of opportunity promotes confidence within each child and lays the foundations for future learning.
Living eggs
Living eggs is a unique comprehensive 10 day hatching programme available to nurseries, schools and care homes. The children are able to observe the eggs hatch into chicks and watch the chicks grow and change every day. This exciting programme gives the children an understanding of growth, change and occasionally loss, when an egg does not hatch. Following the ‘loss’ of an egg Children are given the opportunity to decide how they want to say goodbye and what should be done with the egg.
African Drummng Experience.
Drums are wonderful instruments, and they have a beautiful sound. Drums are used in many different ways, we have drums which are used for sending massages to the people in town or some times to send massage to the next village, and there are drums for ceremonies like weddings or naming ceremonies and there are also drums for healing people who are sick. African drumming can support children’s literacy and mathematical development.
Martin regularly visits Nursery as part of the Osagyefo theatre company. He shares his experience and knowledge of the the African Drums.
All of the children are able to take part in the drumming sessions. They get the opportunity to practice playing the drums on their own and with the group, explore loud and quiet sounds, follow instructions and learn new rhymes.
Trips and local walks
Local walks and trips are an excellent chance to socialise and learn. By taking part in real life experiences children are able to make connections with the world around them and explore with all of their senses.
We are sometimes able to arrange trips to local attractions. We invite parents along to support their children. It is a great opportunity for children to spend some quality time with their carer/parent and sharing the experience of going to places that they may not normally have the opportunity to attend. Staff are always available to support and also share the wonderful experience of exploring somewhere different.
Most trips are heavily subsidised by the nursery so that more parents and children are able to attend.
The nursery school is open for those children who are not able to attend the trip.
The staff and children make the most of the local environment and will often visit the woods, shop and park. The children also like to visit the police station and library when they have explored these topics at nursery.
During the local walks children are able to explore the environment while focusing on appropriate behaviour, stranger and safety awareness and sounds/sights of the environment.
